Arrangement for preventing derailing of rail vehicles



March 28, 1967 P. BECKER ETAL.

ARRANGEMENT FOR PREVENTING DERAILING OF RAIL VEHICLES Filed March 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l lnvenfars 7au/ B e/rer- @Of/ff/ea/ 5,1

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Marcia 28, 1967 P. BECKER ETAL 3,311,304

ARRANGEMENT FOR PREVENTING DERAILING OF RAIL VEHICLES Filed March 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,311,304 ARRANGEMENT FOR PREVENTING DERAILING (F RAIL VEHICLES Paul Becker, Cologne-Mulhei'm, and Gottfried Groche,

Essen-Margarethenhohe, Germany, assignors to Beteiligungsnnd Patentverwaltungsgesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Essen, Germany Filed Mar. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 439,776 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 18, 1964, B 75,955 9 Claims. (Cl. 238-17) The present invention relates to an arrangement for preventing derailing of rail vehicles. In connection with railway tracks, it is known at particularly endangered sections as, for instance at switches or curves and with tracks on bridges and other elevated tracks, to counter the danger of derailing by additional or guiding rails. Such steps, however, are in all instances limited to relatively short track sections and, as experience has shown, are therefore not sufficient, especially when elevated tracks are concerned which are mounted on supporting beams, or when tracks extend over dykes, or in similar circumstances.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for preventing derailing, which will be effective over the entire track section liable to be endangered.

It is another object of this invention to provide an arrangement as set forth above, which will be simple in construction and highly effective and reliable.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a section through a supporting beam provided with driving rails and sliding rails according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a cross-section through the left-hand portion of a supporting beam with a driving rail and a sliding rail somewhat modified over that of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 20! is a cross-section through the right-hand portion of a supporting beam with a driving rail and still another modified sliding rail according to the inventon;

FIGURE 3 illustrates in cross-section a driving rail of a design still further differing from those of FIGURES 1, 2 and 212;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-section through a combined driving and sliding rail according to the invention;

FIGURE 5 illustrates on a somewhat larger scale than FIGS. 1 to 4 a cross-section through an arrangement of the present invention for preventing derailing of rail vehicles.

The arrangement according to the present invention for preventing derailing of rail vehicles is characterized in that adjacent each driving rail or track rail and, more specifically, on that side thereof which faces toward the center line of the track, there is provided a sliding rail or protective rail extending over the entire length of the track, the upper edge of said sliding rail being located at a level higher than the level of the plane of the rail head. The distance of the sliding rail from the rail head is to be such that the wheel flange of the rail vehicle can move freely and in normal operation will not engage the sliding rail. The sliding rail is to become effective only when the oppositely located wheel attempts to rise. To this end, the distance between the sliding rail and the rail head must not exceed the width of the rail head.

Advantageously, the sliding rail is connected to the central elevated portion of a supporting beam carrying the driving rail or is connected together with the driving rail to a tie, or the like.

According to a further development of the present invention, the sliding rail is fixedly connected to the driving rail and forms a unit or entity therewith.

Advantageously, the sliding rail is so designed that the engaging wheel can, by means of the wheel flange, slide on the sliding rail in a manner similar to the wheel flange side sliding on the rail head. According to a particularly advantageous design of a sliding rail according to the present invention, that surface of the sliding rail which faces the driving rail is within the range of the height of the head of the driving rail inclined toward the center of the track while the said inclined surface together with the horizontal directed toward the center of the rail track confines an angle of from 60 to which exceeds by from 3 to 10 the angle formed by the same horizontal with the contour of the back of the wheel flange of the vehicle.

A further improvement in the arrangement according to the present invention will be obtained by making the said inclined surface concave, in which instance the radius of curvature of said concave surface is to be greater than the radius of curvature of the contour of the back of the wheel flange. Such a design yields the advantage that when one of the wheels rises with the result that the oppositely located wheel tips about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the track, the back of the wheel flange of said oppositely located wheel will roll on the sliding rail in a manner similar to the rolling of the flanks of teeth of two gears, whereby the rising wheel will be pulled toward the central longitudinal axis of the rail track.

When the wheels turn about a vertical axis, it has proved advantageous, when that surface of the sliding rail which faces the guiding rail is, within the range of the height above the driving rail head plane, inclined toward the longitudinal central axis of the track. In this instance, the inclined surface should, together with the horizontal directed toward the longitudinal central axis of the track, confine an angle of from 50 to 70, which is smaller by about from 3 to 10 than the angle confined by the same horizontal and the countour of the back of the wheel flange. Advantageously, the said inclined surface is made convex while the radius of curvature thereof should not exceed the width of the head of the driving rail and should not be less than half the width thereof.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the arrangement shown therein comprises driving rails 1 supported by a supporting beam 2. Beam 2 has its central longitudinal portion 3 somewhat elevated and provided on each side with guard or sliding rails 4. Particularly favorable possibilities of connecting the sliding rails are obtained when the sliding rails are angle-shaped in cross-section as, for instance, sliding rail 4a of FIG. 2. If desired, the vertical leg of an angled sliding rail may extend upwardly in conformity with the sliding rail 4b of FIG. 2a.

The sliding rails 4, 4a, 4b are spaced from the head In: of the respective adjacent driving rail 1 by a distance at (FIG. 1). The width of head 1a is designated with the letter b. The relationshi between a and b may be expressed by ab.

FIG. 3 shows a driving rail 1 and a sliding rail 4c connected to a tie 5 common thereto. FIG. 4 shows a rail profile 6 combining to an entity, a driving rail 7 and a sliding rail 8.

Referring now to FIG. 5, this figure shows a crosssection through an arrangement against derailing, in which that surface 9 of sliding rail or guard rail 4a which faces driving rail 1, together with a horizontal plane 10 confiines an angle W which somewhat exceeds the angle W confined by said horizontal plane 1t and the back 12 of the Wheel flange. Surface 9 may, however, also be designed differently, for instance concave, as indicated by a dot-dash line, in which instance the radius of curvature R should exceed the radius of curvature R of the dot-dash line contour 11 of wheel flange back 12. That surface 13 of sliding rail 4d which faces driving rail 1 confines with a horizontal plane 14 an angle W which is somewhat less than angle W Surface 13 may, as likewise indicated by dot-dash lines, he made convex. In such an instance, the ratio between the radius of curvature R of said convex surface and the width of the rail head may be expressed by b/2R b.

It is, of course, to be understood, that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular arrangements shown in the drawings, but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In an arrangement for protecting rail vehicles from derailing: a railway bed having a central elevated portion so as to form two lateral shoulders with a shoulder bottom and a substantially vertical shoulder side, two railway track rails respectively mounted on said shoulder bottoms and having a rail head, and two protective rails respectively arranged on said vertical shoulder sides and extending substantially parallel to said track rails while being adjacent and in spaced relationship to the respective adjacent track rails, the upper edge of each of said protective rails being located at a level higher than the top surface of the respective adjacent track rail, and the distance between each protective rail and the head of the respective adjacent track rail being in excess of the width of a wheel flange of a flanged wheel of a rail vehicle to be driven over said track rails, said distance not exceeding the width of the head of said track rails.

2. In an arrangement for protecting rail vehicles from derailing: Two railway track rails each having a rail head, and two guard rails arranged between and substantially parallel to said track rails and respectively adjacent and in spaced relationship to said track rails, the upper edge of each of said guard rails being located at a level higher than the top surface of the respective adjacent track rail, the outwardly facing surface of each guard rail being subdivided into three superimposed portions of which the uppermost and the lowermost portions respectively taper at different angles in upward direction toward the vertical central plane between said track rails.

3. An arrangement according to claim 2, in which the lowermost portion of the outwardly facing surface of each guard rail is inclined to the horizontal plane passing along the top surface of said track rails at an angle of approximately from 60 to 80.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3, in which said angle confined by the lowermost portion of the outwardly facing surface of each guard rail with regard to said horizontal plane exceeds by an angle from 3 to 10 the angle confined by said horizontal plane with the contour of the back of a wheel flange pertaining to the flanged wheel of a railway vehicle to be passed over said track wheels.

5. An arrangement according to claim 3, in which said lowermost portion of the outwardly facing surface of each guard rail is concave.

6. An arrangement according to claim 5, in which the radius of curvature of said lowermost portion is greater than the radius of curvature of the respective adjacent opposite portion of the wheel flange pertaining to a flanged wheel of a rail vehicle to be driven over said track rails.

7. An arrangement according to claim 2, in which the uppermost portion of the outwardly facing surface of each guard rail forms with the horizontal plane passing through the top surface of said track rails an angle of from 50 to 70.

8. An arrangement according to claim 7, in which said angle formed by the horizontal plane passing through the top surface of said rails with the uppermost portion of the outwardly facing surface of the respective adjacent guardrail is by an angle of from 3 to 10 less than the angle confined by said horizontal plane with the countour of the back of a wheel flange pertaining to a flanged wheel of a rail vehicle to be driven over said track rails.

9. An arrangement according to claim 8, in which said uppermost portion is convex while its radius of curvature is not greater than the width of the head of the respective adjacent track rail and is not smaller than half said width.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 934,784 9/1909 Alden 23817 1,145,738 7/1915 Angerer 23817 1,272,437 7/1918 Heard 238--17 1,387,872 8/1921 Stockwell 23817 1,439,090 12/1922 Gallagher 238-19 1,550,019 8/1925 Einstein et al. 238-17 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

2. IN AN ARRANGEMENT FOR PROTECTING RAIL VEHICLES FROM DERAILING: TWO RAILWAY TRACK RAILS EACH HAVING A RAIL HEAD, AND TWO GUARD RAILS ARRANGED BETWEEN AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID TRACK RAILS AND RESPECTIVELY ADJACENT AND IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO SAID TRACK RAILS, THE UPPER EDGE OF EACH OF SAID GUARD RAILS BEING LOCATED AT A LEVEL HIGHER THAN THE TOP SURFACE OF THE RESPECTIVE ADJACENT TRACK RAIL, 